Car Bomb Found Near Musharraf’s Residence as Pakistan Poll Looms

Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan. Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani police found a car packed
with explosives near the residence of former military ruler
Pervez Musharraf, where he is being kept under house arrest.

“There was about 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of high
explosive in the car along with detonators and fuses,”
Inspector General Islamabad Capital Police Bani-Amin Khan said
by phone from the Pakistani capital late yesterday. The car was
“within the vicinity of Musharraf’s residence,” he said.

The car was parked on the road about a half kilometer (0.3
mile) from Musharraf’s residence, said another police official,
Mohammad Fayyaz.

While the police didn’t say who the intended target might
be, Musharraf survived at least four assassination attempts by
Islamic extremists while in power.

Musharraf was arrested on April 19 after a court revoked a
bail agreement on charges relating to his declaration of
emergency rule in 2007. He has since been kept at his residence
on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad, which has been
declared a sub-jail.

Musharraf, who seized power in 1999 and became a U.S. ally
against terrorism, stepped down as president in 2008 to avoid
impeachment charges, and went in to self-imposed exile. He
returned last month in a bid for a political comeback in May 11
elections.

Election tribunals have rejected his nomination papers from
all the four constituencies he intended to contest. His lawyers
said they would appeal decisions to bar him from running.